CNN’s corporate parent used Chris Cuomo’s connection to his brother, then-New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, to lobby for policy measures that would benefit its business during COVID lockdowns, according to a report.
WarnerMedia, the AT&T subsidiary and entertainment conglomerate that owned CNN before it merged with Discovery last year in a blockbuster deal, tried to get the then-governor to open movie theaters that were shut down as a result of the pandemic, the news site Semafor reported Sunday.
Semafor obtained text messages sent by WarnerMedia executive Allison Gollust, the marketing officer whose relationship with CNN boss Jeff Zucker led to both of their resignations, to her onetime boss, Andrew Cuomo, in September 2020.
Gollust asked Andrew Cuomo to speak to Ann Sarnoff, who at the time headed studios at WarnerMedia.
“She’s bummed you don’t open theaters in NY, but perhaps you can hear her out,” Gollust wrote, according to Semafor.
Weeks after Andrew Cuomo and Sarnoff spoke, the then-governor allowed movie theaters outside New York City to gradually open.
The company was eager to cash in on “Tenet,” the highly anticipated, big-budget movie by director Christopher Nolan.
The film ended up grossing a worldwide total of $363.7 million at the box office — falling short of analyst estimates that it needed to gross between $400 million and $500 million just to break even.
The text messages will be presented as evidence in an arbitration proceeding initiated by Chris Cuomo, the former primetime host, who is seeking $125 million from his former employer, CNN, for wrongful termination.
Chris Cuomo was fired by Zucker in late 2021 after it was learned that he provided communications and strategic advice to his brother, who at the time was fending off allegations that he sexually harassed former aides.
Andrew Cuomo has denied the allegations.
Chris Cuomo will reportedly present the texts into evidence to show that his then-bosses were eager to use their connections to the former governor.
The Post has sought comment from the Cuomo brothers, Zucker, and WarnerMedia.
CNN declined to comment.
The arbitration hearing that is scheduled for later this month may include testimony from former CNN stars including Don Lemon, Brian Stelter, Zucker and Gollust, according to Semafor.
Lemon was fired in late April after a series of gaffes, including an on-air statement about 51-year-old GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley being “not in her prime.”
Stelter, the former CNN media reporter and host of “Reliable Sources,” was let go by CNN in August last year.
Chris Licht, the CNN boss who canned Stelter and Lemon, resigned last week after a disastrous profile that appeared in the Atlantic magazine.
